Danganstuck
by Megiemoo
Summary: Eight kids. Twenty four trolls. One cherub. Thirty three Sburb players suddenly find themselves trapped inside Hope's Peak Academy with no memory of how they ended up there. And as they soon find out, the only way to leave is to commit a murder and get away with it. Who will fall into the despair of the School Life of Mutual Killing?
1. Prologue

John Egbert was the first to wake. He blinked several times as his surroundings came into view.

He was in a classroom, from the looks of things. But two things struck him as odd: the first was that all of the desks were empty. The second was that the windows were sealed with what appeared to be reinforced metal sheets. Cautiously, the Heir of Breath left the seat he woke in, and walked over to the window. A dulled lighting came from the ceiling, and John saw that there was a strange tint to the lights.

Upon reaching the window, John found that the metal sheets were also bolted to the walls. He didn't even have to try to know that opening them would be nearly impossible. A chill ran through John: where the hell was he?

At this moment, a whirring reached John's ears. He looked up to see a bright yellow surveillance camera staring down at him, zooming in. Something was definitely off. He stood away from the camera, and walked across the classroom again, stopping in the middle of the room. A couple more windows were present, as well as a skylight. All of them were bolted.

John's attention was then drawn to the board. It was a regular chalk board, but with large, scrawled writing on it. It took a moment, but John soon managed to read the message.

_WELCOME. TO HOPE'S PEAK ACADEMY. LOSERS._

This message only served to confuse him further. Nothing made sense. And as John stood there, he recalled the others. Where was Dave? Or Karkat? What had happened?

Suddenly, something clicked to life. John looked up in a panic, seeing a TV screen flicker to life. An ominous silhouette appeared on screen. There was a brief moment of silence before it began to speak.

"Microphone test. Microphone test."

John raised an eyebrow in confusion. Who was that? The voice did not sound familiar to anyone he knew, so he was at a loss.

"Good. You can hear me. Now. Listen. All you losers that are awake. Bring your asses down to the gym hall. There is an important announcement. That you need to hear. Attendance is mandatory."

The screen shut down, and John was left with more questions than answers. From the sound of things, he was in some kind of school. But why all the surveillance? And what was up with those announcements?

John shook his head. There was no point questioning it. He should probably go and see what this was all about. With this in mind, John crossed the classroom to the door, and pulled it open, stepping out into the hallway.

The hallway was no better than the classroom. It was even darker, and the only light sources came from the lights above. No sunlight. Several more classroom doors lined the hallway, but the place seemed to be empty. This contradicted what the voice had implied: that there were several people in this place. But from John's perspective, the place was desolate.

However, as John thought this, the door across from his opened. A familiar figure stepped out from the classroom: Karkat.

"Karkat!" John exclaimed, moving up to his friend.

"John?" Karkat said, surprised. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Not a clue," John said. He shrugged. "I just woke up here, and some creepy as hell voice said to go down to the gym hall!"

"Me too," Karkat said. "Also, John, have you seen anyone else?"

"Nobody but you, Karkat," John said. "Although, there are probably other people in here. That announcement definitely implied it."

"I suppose you're right," Karkat said. "And if they have any common sense, they'll be heading down to the gym. We should probably head there and see if anyone else knows anything."

John nodded in response, and the two began to walk down the hallway. Above their heads, one of the lights flickered. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but for some reason, it felt ominous. They turned left at the end of the hallway, and found another hallway lined with classrooms. Nobody emerged from any of them as John and Karkat passed by.

"This is really giving me the creeps," John said. "I mean, it's a school! There are supposed to be people around."

"I don't really know what the hell a school is like," Karkat said. "But I'm pretty sure a place as big as this should have at least _someone _around."

"Yeah," John said. "Karkat, do you think the others are here?"

"Could be," Karkat said. "Or maybe not. I really don't know, okay? I'm as clueless as you are, John."

"Sorry," John said. "It's just that I'm really terrified and need to make sure that this is actually happening."

"Well it is," Karkat said bitterly. He folded his arms as they turned right. "Get that through the thick membrane of your thinkpan right now."

As they moved down the next hallway, John noticed a large set of double doors at the far end.

"Hey," he said to Karkat. "I think that's the gym."

"How do you know?" Karkat said.

"Well, it's a large set of doors that clearly lead to a large room," John said. He picked up his walking pace. "Now come on: we might get some answers."

Karkat walked by John's side, neither of them saying a word the closer they got to the doors. John reached the doors first, and placed a hand on the handles. He hesitated for a moment.

"What is it?" Karkat asked.

"I'm not sure if this is safe," John said.

"John," Karkat said. "You're a damn god-tier: it's not as if you're going to bite the dust, is it?"

"You're right," John said. He took a deep breath, and pushed down on the handles, opening the doors.

Straight away, bright light flooded into John's eyes, and he squinted as he and Karkat stepped into the gym. Once the world came into focus, John was surprised at what he saw. All around them were people they knew. John noticed all of his friends, and the other group of human players; their ancestors. The rest of Karkat's group was also there, and from the look of things, the troll ancestors too.

"Sweet Jegus deep-fried in grub sauce," Karkat said. "Why the hell are our brain-dead ancestors here?"

"Beats me," John said. "But perhaps they know what's going on." At this exact moment, Dave and Rose happened to approach the two.

"John, thank god you're here," Dave said. "I was beginning to think you were gonna miss out on this weird as hell party.

"Party being the subjective term," Rose said. "In actuality, we're all scared and confused and a breath away from producing fecal matter that oddly resembles bricks."

"So neither of you know what's going on?" John said.

Rose shook her head. "Nobody knows anything. We were hoping you two could provide some answers. But alas, it seems we're all in the same boat. I'm leaning towards the highly plausible theory that we're being held hostage by someone. However, I'm essentially as clueless as the clown that gets high off of soda."

"This is just wonderful," Karkat said. "So nobody knows anything?"

"Afraid not," Dave said. "Sorry if that was what you were expecting."

"It's fine," Karkat said. "So now our priority is to figure out what's going on, okay?"

"All right," Dave said. "What do you suggest we—"

Dave was suddenly cut off by the lights going dark, save for a single spotlight that shone down on the podium on the stage at the far end of the dining hall. Suddenly, a figure leaped up from beneath the podium, looking over the confused crowd. He had a green, skull-like head, and bright red eyes.

"Ah. Hello there," he said. "I suppose. You losers are pretty confused. Right about now, huh?"

"Oh no!" a voice called out from the front of the crowd. She appeared to be a troll, but with startling white hair. "How can you be here?"

"Shut it," he said. "Now. Returning to the rest of you. I suppose introductions are in order. After all. This is what happens at a normal school. Is it not?"

"Mother of Christ," Dave whispered to nobody in particular. "What the actual hell is this."

"My name," the stranger continued. "Is Caliborn. I am the new head of this school. As such. You will all follow my rules."

"What the glubbin' shell is this bullcarp comin' from your blowhole?" someone else said. It was quickly revealed that this voice belonged to Meenah.

"Did I not make myself clear. Stupid royal troll," Caliborn said. "I am the head of this school. You are my students."

"You're a cod clam cherub," Meenah said. She folded her arms, and glared at him. "Why would I even _think _about listening to a word that comes from your mouth?"

"Meenah, please," Aranea pleaded beside her. "Keep quiet. You do not know the effects you could bring."

"I suggest listening to the nerdy broad," Caliborn said. "The rules clearly state. Violence against the head is forbidden."

"What rules?" Vriska added. She stood a little further in front of John and Karkat. "I don't see any damn rules written anywhere."

"Oh. My bad," Caliborn said. He pressed a button, and small PDAs suddenly appeared in everyone's hands. "These are your ElectroIDs. They contain the rules of the school. And information about your fellow students. Do not read until this announcement. Is complete." John carefully lowered his ElectroID.

"Excuse me," Kankri spoke up. Karkat groaned and rolled his eyes. "But may I enquire as to the reasoning behind our imprisonment, and any possible means of exit? As you may now, confinement is an especially triggering matter, especially to those who acutely suffer from a form of claustro—"

"Stop it. Stop making all these words come from your mouth," Caliborn groaned. "Now. To answer your question. Yes, there is a way to leave. It is simple. All you have to do is graduate."

"Graduate?" Jane said. "But that means we'll be stuck in here for _years!_"

"No. I think we have a misunderstanding," Caliborn said. "This graduation does not occur in a manner you find conventional. There is only one rule. To graduate. All you have to do. Is kill somebody."

A stunned silence filled the hall as everyone looked at each other, before returning their gaze to the cherub on-stage.

"You can't be serious!" Feferi exclaimed. "That's insane!"

"I believe that. I am entirely serious," Caliborn said. "This is not a joke."

"This isn't happening..." Jade said from elsewhere. "You can't do this!"

"Believe me. I can," Caliborn said, grinning. "Just try and stop me."

"You got it!" Jade yelled. She positioned her hands, and attempted to use her Space powers. Nothing happened. "What?!"

"Oh. I should have probably mentioned," Caliborn said. "Your god-tier abilities. Mean nothing in here."

"No way!" This time Vriska began to yell.

"It is the truth. You lack the abilities that come with ascension," Caliborn said. "It evens the playing field. So to speak."

"So hypothetically," Dirk said. "If I were to kill, say, one of these random trolls in front of me, I could just get the hell out of here?"

"Not quite," Caliborn said. "Before graduation. You must endure a class trial. Where you all will vote on the culprit. If you are not accused. You graduate."

Another silence. For the few that were considering killing, these thoughts stopped. There was no way any of them would be able to successfully hide their guilt from the large population that surrounded them.

"But what if nobody kills?" Rose said. She eyed Caliborn coldly.

"Oh. That," Caliborn said. "If that is the case. Then nobody will ever leave the confines of Hope's Peak Academy."

"I see," Rose said. "So it's either live in a confined space with thirty or so others, or commit the perfect crime. Am I correct?"

"Yes," Caliborn said. "So from now on. You are all part of the School Life of Mutual Killing. Enjoy your time here."

Suddenly, there was a flash of confetti, and Caliborn disappeared, leaving the new students in a confused panic. People eyed each other with suspicion and worry, as if they were all about to descend into a free-for-all to get out.

Rose was the first to act. "May I please have your attention?" she said. Every eye turned to her. "Now, I can't say I know what is happening, but until we learn more, the best thing to do is to remain calm and not cause an uproar."

"That's easy for you to say," Eridan said. "You haven't had the experience a being in a situation where you have to get killin to live."

"But by killing you'll be playing right into his hands," Rose noted. "Anyway, let's crush the thought of murder right now. I suggest we consult our ElectroIDs and see if they offer anything of use." There were several nods whilst Rose turned on her ElectroID. It showed a list of options, such as 'Students Attending' and 'My Information'. But what got Rose's attention was the flashing icon titled 'Rules'. She pressed it, and read through the list.

_**HOPE'S PEAK ACADEMY:**_

_**SCHOOL LIFE OF MUTUAL KILLING RULES**_

_1: Acts of violence against the head are prohibited._

_2: Destruction of surveillance equipment is prohibited._

_3: In order to graduate, murder another student without being found out._

_4: After a body has been found, a few hours will be given to investigate before a trial._

_5: If the murderer is found guilty, they will be punished accordingly._

_6: If the culprit is wrongly identified, all but the actual culprit will be punished._

_7: Accomplices to a murder will not be punished at the trial if they did not actually kill._

_8: You can only murder up to two students._

_9: The time period between 10pm and 7am is Night Time; certain areas will be cut off at this point._

_10: More rules will be added as necessary._

Rose raised an eyebrow at the odd rules, and looked over at the others. They had similar expressions.

"What do you think it means?" Nepeta said, staring at her ElectroID.

"I'm not sure," Rose said. "I still don't know how we got into this situation, or how we're going to get out. But for now, we just have to ensure nobody begins to kill one another."

"But I'm like entirely sure I'm a ghost," Latula said. "So then how the hell can I get murdered?"

"She's right," Eridan said. "A buncha us are actually ghosts, but now I don't feel like one."

"He probably did something," Rose offered. "I'm sorry, but I don't have all the answers right now."

"If anything, I should be the one apologising," a voice spoke up. Rose saw the crowd part to reveal a white-haired troll.

"Why?" Rose said.

"Because that guy is my brother, so to speak," the troll said. She sighed in dismay. "I could have prevented this all somehow."

"Wait," Aranea said. "Does that mean you're...?"

"Technically, yes," the troll said. "I am the cherub Calliope. But I seem to be stuck in my trollsona form of Callie Ohpeee for some reason... Not that that's a bad thing; my true form is positively frightening!"

"That may be," Aranea said. "But if you are truly who you say you are, then you are the other half of Caliborn. And with the two of you alive, that means that you could still technically fight for control of the cherub body."

"Believe me, I would love to," Calliope said. "But I just can't seem to do it."

"Anyway," Rose said. "Do you have any idea what is actually happening?"

"As a matter of fact I do," Calliope said. "But I cannot guarantee that what I am saying is accurate."

"That's fine," Rose replied. "Any lead is a good lead."

"Okay then," Calliope said. "You cannot remember this, but all of we were so close to defeating Lord English once and for all, until he utilised his powers as a Lord of Time to trap us all in an alternate timeline in order to prevent us from ever fighting him. Essentially, we're playthings for his younger self."

"Then how come you can remember?" Aranea questioned.

"That is because we share a link through his body," Calliope said. "To remove my memories would be to remove his own, and he would never take that risk."

"That sucks big time, Callie," Roxy said. She stood closer to the cherub/troll. "But you're here, which is good enough."

Calliope smiled bashfully. "Thank you for the kind words, dear, but unfortunately we're still stuck in this situation."

"Whilst we do need to try and formulate a plan that may result in us leaving," Kanaya said. "We have a larger issue: there is no doubt that someone will try to murder someone else. Despite your talk, Rose, I can guarantee someone will do it."

"Despite the risk of a violent execution?" Rose said. Kanaya nodded. "So what do you suggest we do?"

"For now, I suggest that we never walk around alone," Kanaya said. "Ideally we should move in groups of at least three, and we shouldn't move at all during the Night Time period. That way we should minimise the chance of a murder."

"I see," Rose said. "That could work. So, are we all okay with following these rules?" Several murmurs and nods greeted Rose. "Good. And now I think our priority should be to explore this building and try and find anything useful. Any objections?" None. "Okay then, let's head out. Remember: three or more per group."

Several groups of people began to leave the hall, walking through the hallways. And whilst Rose had given them hope that they would all get out, they had no idea about the level of despair that was about to descend upon them.


	2. Chapter One (I)

Roxy, Calliope, and Jane walked through the hallway, looking around. They weren't sure what it was exactly they were looking for, but Rose had told them that they were to look for anything that could help them escape from this situation.

However, in reality, it was mostly Jane that was looking around. Roxy and Calliope were mostly just hanging back, watching as Jane searched. Roxy was smiling widely as she looked at the white-haired troll in front of her.

"Oh-em-gee," Roxy said. "I still can't believe you're here Callie!"

"Under any other circumstances I would also be delighted to see you," Calliope said with a sigh. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a white wand. "Too bad I can't do anything to help with the situation. I truly am useless..."

"Naw, don't say that," Roxy said as they approached another classroom. "Even if you can't wave a magic wand and make it all better, you can still help us."

"You think so?" Calliope said. Roxy nodded, smiling. "Thank you for caring."

"Don't mention it," Roxy said. She went to say more, but was cut off by Jane.

"Hey, guys," she said. "Check this out."

Roxy and Calliope caught up with Jane, who was standing in front of a door.

"What is it?" Calliope asked.

"This room's in the middle of the hallway," Jane said. "But it's neither a classroom nor an office."

"Then what?" Roxy said.

"See for yourself," Jane said, opening the door. Roxy walked past Jane, and stood inside the room.

The room was the same size as the classroom Roxy had woken up in, but instead of desks and chairs, there were several sofas and shelves full of what appeared to be DVDs and magazines. A large flat-screen TV was in the middle of the room, currently turned off.

"What in the...?" Roxy said in disbelief at the out of place room. As she said this, something vibrated from her pocket. She pulled out her ElectroID, and saw a notice on it.

**An update has been added! You can now view a map of Hope's Peak Academy!**

Roxy stared at the message, confused. In no way was this how she knew Caliborn to write, so why was it like this? Perhaps it was pre-written, and he just hijacked it.

"Roxy?" Calliope said. "What is it?"

"Oh, I just got an update," Roxy said. "I guess we can see the map of this place now."

"Really?" Calliope said. "That's wonderful! Let's see what's nearby!" Calliope pressed down on her ElectroID, and Roxy did the same, taking in the details. Currently, they were in what was labelled as 'Lounge 3'. Several numbered classrooms surrounded the room, but up ahead it showed 'Dormitories'.

"Hey, are you guys seeing this?" Jane said. "It says the dorms are up ahead. We should probably check that out."

"All right then," Roxy said. "Lead the way, Janey."

"Fine," Jane said. She smiled at her two friends. "But let's try and stick together, okay?"

Jane exited the room first, and walked down the hallway. Roxy and Calliope trailed behind, albeit at a faster pace than before. After a few minutes of walking, the ground changed colour from a dulled white to a darker colour. And then they found themselves surrounded by wooden doors. Jane walked up to one, and found it had a pixel image of a troll on it, followed by their symbol. Underneath that was the name 'VRISKA SERKET'. They had found the dorm rooms.

"Is this it?" Calliope asked.

"Seems to be," Jane said. "I guess we should probably try and find our rooms."

"Yeah," Roxy said. "Let's look."

Elsewhere, Meenah and Aranea stood in front of a large pair of double doors. Cronus was behind them, tagging along solely to fulfil the rule of groups of three.

"Come on now, ladies," he said as he walked up to them. Meenah stood glaring at him, whilst Aranea looked at the doors in thought. "We're alive again; why not start living a little?"

"Cod glubbin clam it Ampora," Meenah said. "You're just lucky I don't have my trident with me, else I'll be poking holes in your body about now."

"And risk killing me?" Cronus said. He motioned to Aranea. "With a witness?"

"Aranea'd make a great alibivalve," Meenah said. "Home gill wouldn't betray me like that, would you Twerket?"

"Hm?" Aranea said, looking away from the door to the two seadwellers. "No, no. You're too good a friend. And besides, I am rather sceptical of the claims made by the cherub."

"Really?" Meenah said. "Dude seemed serious."

"Even so, he hasn't matured yet," Aranea explained. "He doesn't have the powers the Lord English we know has."

"So what you saying," Meenah said. "We take him on and win?"

"Not quite," Aranea said. "The rules clearly state that would be a bad idea."

"Then what?" Cronus added.

"I suggest playing by his rules for the moment," Aranea said. "However, I feel that his ultimate goal is to make us all kill one another; the whole trial thing? I don't buy it for one moment."

"But the maps show there is a courtroom," Meenah said, motioning to her ElectroID.

"That they do," Aranea said. "But where is there room to perform an execution?"

"Oh, you're right," Meenah said.

"Exactly," Aranea replied. "So don't pay much heed to what he says. For now, let's keep searching."

Aranea then pushed the doors open, and the three Beforan trolls stepped through, entering the library. It was a large, spacious room filled to the brim with bookshelves lined with books. Several desks were littered about to sit on, and there was even a checkout desk. But it was empty.

"Huh," Aranea said. "I was expecting to see someone in here."

"Well, the place is empty as shell," Meenah said. "Course nobody'd be here."

"I know that," Aranea said. "Anyway, let's go see if there's any information we can use."

"Can do," Meenah said. "Come on Ampora. Let's go find somefin."

"All right," Cronus said with a shrug. "Let's do this."

Dirk, Jake, and Jade walked down a staircase. Dirk was in the lead, and Jade was at the back. They hadn't stopped moving all day, trying to find if there were any exits anywhere. So far they had found nothing, but that hadn't deterred them.

"Dirk," Jake said as they continued down the stairs. "Do you have the foggiest as to where this leads."

"Not a clue," Dirk said. "But hopefully somewhere with an exit."

"I'm not sure..." Jade said. "If this situation is as bad as what I think it is, then we might not find an exit."

"Yo, don't say that," Dirk said as he reached the bottom of the staircase. "We'll find a way out."

"Let's just hope so," Jade said. She and Jake soon reached the bottom of the stairs as well, and were presented with a long hallway. At the end was a door that looked suspiciously like an elevator.

"Well, I guess we press onwards," Jake said. But as he took another step forward, Caliborn appeared out of nowhere.

"No. Nope. You cannot come down here right now," he said.

"Why the hell not?" Dirk responded.

"Is it the exit?" Jake said.

"Not at all. You brain-dead fool," Caliborn said. "Down here is the elevator. It leads to the courtroom. You have no business being here. Unless a murder has been committed. Now get the hell out of here before I make you." His eyes flashed dangerously, and he pulled out a machine gun. Jade let out a yelp of horror.

"Put that thing away!" she said, backing up.

"Once you leave," Caliborn said.

"Ugh, fine," Dirk said. "Come on guys, let's head out of here." Without a further word of argument, the three of them returned to the stairs, leaving Caliborn to guard the elevator.

Rose sat at a table in the dining hall, slumped over. Her group, consisting of herself, John, Karkat, Terezi, Kanaya, and Dave, had all been searching for some means of escape. But they had come up empty-handed. The only thing they had found out was that currently, they couldn't go any higher than the current floor they were on. Caliborn had said that they would get to explore more of the building after every successful trial. The thought made her sick.

"Rose," Kanaya said, snapping her from her thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Rose said. "Just wondering as to how Caliborn thinks he can get away with this."

"Perhaps it would be best to not question it," Kanaya said. "At least until we establish what everyone has discovered today." As she said this, a few groups of others entered the dining hall thanks to the notice Rose had placed in the gym. After a few more minutes, everyone had gathered. Instinctively, they all turned to the group of six sat in the middle of the room. Rose looked at them all for a moment, before Eridan began to speak.

"Well," he said. "Did anyone find anything?"

"That is a good question," Rose said. She continued to face the crowd. "Can everyone please report their discoveries so that we can establish more about this place."

"Well," Feferi said. "My group found the pool. Caliborn mentioned to us that we can only access changing rooms using our ElectroIDs, and that we will be punished if we enter the changing room of the opposite gender."

"Our group has also made a discovery," Equius stated. "We have discovered several speciality classrooms; one example would be a room solely full of computers."

"We found the dorms," Jane said. "They all look the same: there's a bed, a chest that we can store stuff in, and a personal bathroom. The windows are also boarded up there as well."

"Is that all?" Rose said. Several nods. "Well, we discovered that the stairs leading to the next floor up are blocked off; to access any more of the building, we'd have to successfully survive a trial."

"What?" Calliope said. "That's utterly preposterous!"

"Believe me, we tried arguing," Rose said flatly. "There's no swaying him."

A silence fell over the group as they all sat at various tables, talking. Rose's group all sat down as well, and they looked at each other.

"Well, this blows," Dave said, sighing. "There are still no leads on how we're getting out of here."

"True," Rose said. "But at least we're somewhat more acquainted with the building."

"Yeah," Dave replied. "By like, one floor."

"It's better than nothing," Kanaya added.

"Besides, Dave," Terezi piped up, flashing a wide grin. "Have you _seen _the art room? Oh my god, the supplies in there are to die for. Think of all the comics you could make, Dave. Think of it." She suddenly leaned across the table, and inhaled deeply. "I can smell your desire for it clearly."

"Okay okay, you got me," Dave said. "It's not all that bad, I guess. Anywhere that offers the tools to create Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff can't actually be that evil."

"This is of course blatantly ignoring the psychotic cherub that is keeping us prisoner," Karkat said.

"Let's just try and ignore that," Dave said. "I doubt he'll do much unless someone here's dumb enough to actually commit a murder which I'm sure they're not."

"Yeah," Karkat said. "Still, I don't think we should entirely let our guard down; we don't really know these people on more than a superficial level. And last I checked, over half of them were dead."

"That is also an issue," Kanaya said. "How come those who were previously established to be dead are walking amongst the living?"

"It is probably part of whatever scheme Caliborn has in mind," Rose said. "He'll probably reveal it to us eventually."

"I hope so," Dave said. He then looked up, and saw John standing over the table, holding a tray of food.

"Hey guys," he said. "I went through the kitchen and found some food. I guess this could be dinner? Anyway, eat up!"

"Thanks," Rose said. She took what appeared to be a bunch of grapes, and chewed at them. "This isn't half bad. I'm glad that our captor at least has a sense of hospitality."

"Unless it's poisoned," Karkat said.

"Don't worry about that," Terezi replied. "I can smell this kind of stuff from miles away."

"You could easily omit that information though," Rose said. "How perfect would it be to kill someone by poison?"

"I wouldn't stoop as low as to play that sick game," Terezi said, frowning. Her face soon bounced back into a wide grin, though. "Besides, it's much more fun to prosecute the culprit than it is to actually commit a murder."

"Good to see that our mood hasn't changed, then," John said, laughing.

"Yeah," Dave said. "We can almost forget how we're trapped in some creepy school for just a moment." The others laughed at Dave's remark, and they all soon fell into various light-hearted conversations.

A couple of hours later, though, one of the many television screens flickered to life. Caliborn's face appeared.

"Attention losers," he said. "It is now ten PM. Meaning Night Time has begun. In a few minutes. The dining hall will be locked down. Please make your way to your dorm rooms. For a peaceful sleep."

The screen died down, and an uneasy silence filled the room. Everyone looked around, nobody saying a word, before all eyes turned to Rose.

"Well, I suppose we should follow the announcement," she said. "It wouldn't be wise to break the rules."

"So we just head back to our rooms for the night?" Aranea said. She sighed. "That's a shame. I was hoping to do some late-night reading."

"Of course, I don't think there's a rule against it if the library isn't locked at night," Rose said. "But who knows with him?"

"I agree," Calliope said. "And being out alone could make you a target if people believe what my brother is saying."

"Gurl, don't worry a boat it," Meenah said. She wrapped an arm around Aranea, and grinned. "I'll be with her and'll definitely keep her safe."

"Meenah, you really don't have to go to all this trouble," Aranea said. "I'll be fine."

"Not takin any chances, sorry," Meenah said.

"You truly are a good person," Calliope said.

"Thanks," Meenah said. "But really I just don't want my friend to die."

"I see," Rose said. "However, I suppose the rest of us should just head to our rooms for the evening. Don't stay out too long you two."

"We won't," Aranea said. She smiled warmly, before beginning to head in the direction of the library. "Well, see you tomorrow!"

"Yo, wait for me!" Meenah cried out, rushing after Aranea as they vanished through the doorway. Rose then looked around the room, and saw everyone beginning to leave. She also realised that her own group had retired for the evening.

Sighing, Rose walked through the dining hall, lost in her thoughts, before she ran into Roxy.

"Hey!" Roxy said. She smiled widely. "It's been too long, huh?"

"I suppose," Rose said. "Although, we could argue that we've known each other longer than anyone else, being each other's alternate version of her doomed mother."

"Yeah," Roxy said with a chuckle. "But do you really think nobody will kill?"

"I can't say for sure," Rose said as they walked through the hallway. "However, I know that the majority won't risk it, if that's any consolation."

"Not really," Roxy said. "But if it helps, I won't be doing any murdering."

"Likewise," Rose said. She looked ahead, and saw the dorm rooms. "Well, I suppose I'm going to call it an evening. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya," Roxy said. She smiled at Rose, who then walked into her room, retiring for the night.

Roxy remained outside for just a moment longer, before walking across to her own room. She pressed her ElectroID to the door, and stepped inside, shutting it behind her. She knew it was wrong, but having the door locked like that made her feel the slightest bit safer, not that anyone was actually going to try and murder her. But what about her friends? Could they be in danger? It wasn't worth thinking about, Roxy decided, and instead she made her way to her bed, and slipped under the covers, soon drifting off into a deep dreamless slumber.

"Attention losers. It is now seven AM. Marking the end of Night Time. The dining hall is now unlocked. Meaning breakfast will be served. Here's to a new day. Of mutual killing."

Roxy opened her eyes, staring at the light above her head. It had turned on automatically after the morning announcement, marking day time, since there was no way to see the outside world. She sat up, and not for the first time she wondered where they were exactly. But there wasn't much point in reasoning with it right now, and she climbed out of bed, heading out of her room.

The walk to the dining hall was uneventful, and Roxy quickly sat down with Jane, who was eating from a generously sized bowl of fruit.

"Hi Roxy," Jane said. "Sleep well?"

"Surprisingly," Roxy replied. "I was sure I'd be worrying about everything, but I slept like a rock."

"Me too," Jane said. "I guess the events of yesterday just wore on us so much."

"Yeah," Roxy said. "We probably didn't notice because Callie was keeping us in such high spirits."

"Speaking of which," Jane said. "Have you seen Calliope at all this morning?"

"No," Roxy said. A sudden chill ran through her spine. "Has anyone else?"

Jane shook her head. "I asked Rose's group, but they hadn't seen her."

"Jane," Roxy said. "Do you think maybe Callie..."

"Don't say that," Jane said "She's probably just sleeping in or something."

"Yeah," Roxy said. "Still, perhaps we should let her know it's breakfast time. Wouldn't want her to miss out on eating, would we?"

"No," Jane said. She stood up from her seat. "Let's go then."

The two girls walked across the dining hall as quickly as possible, but before they could reach the exit, Aranea approached them.

"Hello," she said.

"Hey," Roxy said. She looked at Aranea, and noticed that she wasn't wearing her necklace. It probably fell off in her sleep or something. "You okay?"

"Not really," Aranea said. "I haven't seen Meenah at all this morning. Have you girls seen her by chance?"

"No," Jane said. "And we haven't seen Calliope either."

"The cherub girl isn't here?" Aranea said. "You don't think something happened to them, do you?"

"It couldn't be," Roxy said. "They're probably still asleep or something. I guess Callie's been worrying about her psycho brother, and Meenah stayed up with you in the library."

"Oh yeah," Aranea said. "Meenah did leave the library shortly before I did, saying she was tired. I hope she made it to her room all right."

"Isn't the library en route to the dorms?" Jane said.

"Yes," Aranea said.

"In that case, why don't we look around there to see if there's any sign of her?" Jane replied.

"Sounds like a plan," Aranea said. "Let's stay together in case there's anything dangerous. Not that there would be, but you know, better to be safe than sorry."

The three of them then left the dining hall, quickly moving through the hallways, approaching the library. As they did so, the sound of everyone else eating grew quieter. This sent an uneasy feeling through Roxy. And just as this feeling rushed through her, a new sound reached her ears: screaming.

They all looked ahead as the screaming increased in volume, and a figure approached them. Roxy soon realised that it was Meenah. Her face was pale, and her eyes were wide.

"Meenah!" Aranea said, rushing over to her. "Are you okay?!"

"Oh cod, oh cod, oh cod..." Meenah replied. She buried her face in her hands. She was visibly shaking.

"What is it?" Aranea asked, her tone agitated. Meenah remained silent, trembling. A feeling of panic soon settled in, and Roxy felt growing anxiety at the exchange.

"I woke up in the library," Meenah said. "And I saw... oh man... it actually happened..."

"What happened?" Jane said.

"A corpse..." Meenah said, trembling. "Someone's been murdered!" At that moment, it felt as if a blade of ice had struck Roxy. A thousand thoughts filled her head, none of them pleasant.

"We have to head there right away," Aranea said. "Come on!"

Aranea took the lead, followed by Meenah, and Jane and Roxy swiftly followed suit. Nobody said a word as they ran through the hallways.

"A body?" Jane said to Roxy. "She can't be serious, right?"

"I hope not," Roxy said. "Maybe she thought she saw it, and panicked." But deep down, Roxy knew that the truth was likely to be less optimistic. They then turned another corner, and a large set of doors greeted them. One door was slightly ajar.

"In there," Meenah said. "The body's in there."

"Show us," Aranea said. "We have to see."

"O-okay," Meenah replied. "I just can't believe it. Who the shell would do this?" With that, Meenah pushed open the doors, and she and Aranea stepped inside. Jane and Roxy followed, and stood inside the library, amongst the massive shelves. The two trolls suddenly stopped, and Roxy rushed up to them, looking past them. What she saw turned her blood to ice, and rendered her unable to breathe.

There, in the middle of the library, slumped in a pool of blood, was the body of Calliope.


	3. Chapter One (II)

"Get the others," Aranea said to Jane. Jane just stared uncomprehendingly into nothingness for a moment before the words sunk in.

"Okay," she said in a voice that was barely a choked whisper. Jane then turned away from the horror that was in front of her, and ran out of the library doors, sobbing.

Roxy didn't move. Every nerve in her body had gone dull. She could do nothing but stare at the corpse in front of her. Callie was dead. Dear, sweet, precious Callie was dead. Someone had killed her. But this last fact didn't sink in so much as the fact that Roxy's best friend was lying dead a few feet in front of her.

"Callie..." Roxy said weakly, before tears began to drip down her face. Aranea noticed this, and walked over to her.

"Roxy, I know this must be extremely painful," she said, offering a shoulder for Roxy to cry on. "But we can't mourn just yet: we have to discover who killed Calliope. It's what she would have wanted."

"Y-yeah..." Roxy said. "She would have wanted that."

"So, uh," Meenah said, standing over the body. She still seemed to be trembling. "Should we begin the investigation or what? Since if we don't find out who's the killer, then we're all dead."

"I know," Aranea replied. Her face hardened. "But we should wait until the others arrive before starting."

As the three stood in silence, staring at Calliope's body, an announcement suddenly rang out.

_Bing-bong-bam-bom!_

"Attention losers. A corpse has been discovered. You will have some time to investigate. Before the class trial."

"That's just perfect," Aranea said. "Our investigation period has a time limit. That means that in order to find all the evidence, everyone will have to cooperate."

"Yeah," Meenah said. "And I doubt these glubbin losers will easily work with us, considering one of them's the killer."

"Yeah," Aranea replied. She went to continue, but the sound of running cut her off.

Two minutes later, everyone was in the library. They had all seen the corpse, and a solemn tone hung in the air. Rose and the rest of her group walked up to Aranea and Meenah.

"So," Rose said. "You just found her body like this?"

"Yes..." Aranea said. "Meenah was the first to find it."

"And how did you find it?" Rose asked.

"I just woke up inside the library," Meenah said. "And I saw Calliope's corpse laying there. Cod, lemme tell you, it was the biggest fright I've ever had."

"Why were you in the library?" Terezi questioned. "I'm pretty sure the bedroom would be a better place to sleep."

"Oh, let me explain that," Aranea said. "Meenah was with me for protection last night, since I wanted to do some reading before going to sleep. And she began to doze off after a while. Eventually, she told me she was heading to bed, where I believe she passed out somewhere within the library out of my sight. I thought she had returned to her room, but I guess not."

"That sounds suspicious, does it not?" Terezi said. "Meenah, you told Aranea you were heading to your room, in which case you would have fallen asleep closer to the exit. But somehow you wake in front of the body. It doesn't add up."

"Maybe I'm a sleepwalker or somefin," Meenah said. "Although, I don't even remember falling asleep; I guess I was that tired."

"That's probably it," Aranea said. "And I don't believe Meenah did it for one second; what would she gain from killing the cherub girl?"

"I don't know; motives are complicated things," Terezi said. "But I will sniff out the truth, no matter what!"

"Will you. Now?"

Terezi turned around to see Caliborn standing in front of her. He was grinning widely.

"Ah, my number one suspect," Terezi said with a grin. "How are you today?"

"Your theory is stupid," Caliborn said. "Even though I hated my sister. I didn't kill her. Although. I do appreciate the person who did."

"And why do you think I would believe you're innocent?" Terezi said. "What better way to get the killing ball rolling by doing it yourself?"

"True. But wrong," Caliborn said. "Anyway. That is not why I am here."

"Then why are you here?" Terezi said.

"To let you know," Caliborn said. "There is an update. To your ElectroIDs. You can now view. What I have dubbed. Caliborn Files. They display the details. Of the murder victim. That is all. See you losers at the class trial. Later on." Caliborn then vanished from sight, leaving Terezi standing there, confused.

"Hey, get back here!" she yelled to no avail.

"Just ignore him," Karkat said. "We should just look at these files and see what they have to say."

"Fine," Terezi sighed. She picked up her ElectroID, and turned it on, looking through the interface. And sure enough, as Caliborn had described, there was a new addition titled 'Caliborn Files'. She clicked on it.

The screen changed to that of an image of Calliope's corpse slumped against the bookshelf, the green blood pooling out of her. Terezi shuddered at the image, and scrolled down, reading the text.

**The victim was Calliope.**

**The time of death was around 00:43**

**The cause of death is a single stab wound to the heart.**

**The victim was also suffering from a concussion prior to being stabbed.**

"Oh my," Terezi said. "This is the real deal, all right."

"But it doesn't give us any leads," Aranea said, looking through her ElectroID.

"That's where you're wrong," Terezi said with a grin. "Look there: the time of death."

"What about it?" Rose said.

"It provides an alibi for most of us here," Terezi said. "Considering how nearly all of us were in bed from ten onwards."

"That it does," Rose said. "But that still leaves some suspects."

"It does," Terezi said. "But we can rule out quite a few of us from this."

"So where do we start with the investigation?" Karkat said. He was scrolling through his ElectroID.

"The first thing we do is check the body," Terezi said. "We need to find the murder weapon."

"I'll check the body," Kanaya offered.

"You do that," Terezi said. "Just don't drink any of the blood, got it?"

Kanaya rolled her eyes. "Like I would do that." She then walked over to Calliope's body, and began looking over it.

"Find anything?" Rose asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Kanaya said. She stood up, and walked away from the body. "The stab wound is quite thin and precise. It is clear that this was a deliberate move on the culprit's part."

"Pre-meditated, huh?" Terezi said. She adjusted her glasses. "Oh, this keeps getting more and more interesting."

"Anything else?" Rose said.

"Oh, yes," Kanaya said. She lifted her hand, revealing a blood-stained ElectroID. "This is Calliope's. We can use it to investigate her room for any evidence."

"Good idea," Rose said. "Terezi, could you, Karkat, and Kanaya check out Calliope's room?"

"Sure," Terezi said. She turned to the two other trolls. "Come on, let's go."

Rose watched as the three of them left the library before facing the others.

"Okay," she said. "With that covered, I want the rest of you to search every corner of the building for any sign of evidence, okay?"

"But what if we don't wanna," Eridan said.

"Then you'll be executed," Rose said sharply.

"Fine," Eridan said, joining the rest in walking out of the library.

Now, only Rose, John, Dave, Jane, Roxy, Aranea, and Meenah remained.

"What do we do, Rose," Dave said. "Since I don't wanna join the masses in vaguely searching."

"Neither do I," Rose said. "To be honest, this was just to get them out of our hair for a while whilst we investigate the crime scene."

"Do you have any idea who the culprit is yet?" Jane said.

"Not yet," Rose said. "But once we establish what Terezi finds in Calliope's dorm room, and whatever evidence the culprit left here, then I may be able to put it together."

"So what do we look for?" John said.

"Anything suspicious," Rose said. "It would help if we had a forensics team on standby, or just for the Seer powers to return, but since neither of those is a viable option, we'll just have to look the old fashioned way."

"Got it," John said.

"We'll check outside of the library," Aranea said. "They might have left some clues out there."

"And we might find out why I passed out," Meenah said. She rubbed her head as she did so. "I hope that motherglubber gets what's coming to them."

"Likewise," Aranea said. "But ultimately, isn't this the cherub's fault?"

"I guess," Meenah said. "But that doesn't mean someone had to go and kill like that."

"I know," Aranea said. "Let's just go look."

Rose watched Meenah and Aranea also leave the library, looking around the hallway.

"Okay then," she said to the others. "Let's search the library." They all nodded, and took off through the massive room. Rose also began to walk along the bookshelves, looking for something. She wasn't sure what, though. Perhaps the murder weapon? Or maybe something else.

However, as Rose thought this, her eyes rested on one of the bookshelves. Immediately her eyes widened in suspicion. In the middle of the shelf, there was a book missing. Rose walked over to the shelf, and looked at the two adjacent books to the empty space. The titles were Cherub Studies: Volume I and Cherub Studies: Volume III. That meant the second volume was missing. However, this raised even more questions. Why would someone go to all the trouble of researching cherubs if they were just going to kill Calliope like that? It didn't make sense. But that did mean that they now had a new piece of evidence: the only thing left to do was to find where the book was.

Terezi walked up to the door with Calliope's name on it. Karkat and Kanaya were just behind her.

"This is the place," Karkat said. "You have the ID, don't you?"  
"Of course," Terezi said. "Why wouldn't I?" And with that, Terezi pressed the ElectroID against the door, opening it up. The three of them stepped into the room, and looked around. The room was identical to the other dorm rooms; there was a bed in the middle of the room, a boarded up window, a large chest, and a door that led to the bathroom.

"I am not sure if there would be anything in here," Kanaya said. "It seems that the crime took place in the library, not here."

"I know," Terezi said. "But there's a chance that our cherub friend here was planning something of her own."

"Uh, Terezi," Karkat said. He was pointing at the chest. "Look at this."

"What?" Terezi said. She walked over to the chest, and gasped in surprise. "Oh my." The chest was covered in lime green blood, and the padlock was open. She reached over, and lifted up the chest, taking in its contents. "Seem someone else has already been using this ElectroID." Terezi leaned into the chest, pulling out the suspicious object: a large book, stained with both fuchsia and lime green blood. The title of the book was Cherub Studies: Volume II.

Karkat held onto the book as the trio left Calliope's room, returning to the hallway. However, as they walked through the hallway, they soon noticed something: the labels on each door were gone.

"What is this?" Kanaya said, looking at a blank door. "I don't remember this on the way here."

"That's because we came from the other way," Karkat said. "Still, why would someone do this?"

"Not sure," Terezi said. "But look over there." Karkat and Kanaya followed Terezi's gaze to see one of the doors was slightly ajar.

"It's open..." Kanaya said. "But why?"

"Probably something to do with the missing signs," Terezi said. "Whoever's room that is, they don't want us to know who it belongs to, meaning that there's evidence in there."

"Why didn't they just dispose of it then?" Karkat asked.

"Maybe they didn't have time or something," Terezi said. "Or maybe they were risking too much by being around the dorm rooms; who knows how light a sleeper everyone is?"

"True," Kanaya said. "Anyway, shall we search this room?"

"Of course," Terezi said. "Come on, let's go."

Terezi pushed the door open, revealing the room. It was still exactly the same as the other rooms, except flipped due to it being on the other side of the hallway. However, everything was in the same relative position.

"It doesn't help that these rooms aren't personalised," Terezi said.

"I know," Karkat said. "But then it'd be too easy, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah," Terezi said. "But maybe we shouldn't be killing, and this wouldn't even be an issue."

The conversation died down, and Terezi walked across the room to the bed. She noticed that the sheets were messed up. That didn't strike her as odd, considering how everyone had been sleeping but a few hours earlier. However, the pillow did. It was faint, but there were splatters of lime blood on it. Terezi lifted the pillow, and gasped at what she saw. Neatly laying there was Calliope's wand, caked in blood.

"Guys," Terezi said. "I think I've found the murder weapon."

"Really?" Karkat said as he walked over.

"Yeah," Terezi said. "But it doesn't really... oh my god."

"What?" Karkat said. Terezi had gone pale as she lifted up the bed sheet. There was an object there. Karkat looked at it, and joined Terezi in shock.

"No way..." he said. "It can't be..."

"It seems that way," Terezi said grimly as she lifted it up, and placed it in her pocket. However, before anything else could happen, Caliborn's voice rang out.

"Attention losers. The investigation time is now over. Make your way to the elevator downstairs. To reach the trial room."

Terezi, Karkat, and Kanaya looked at each other, anxious expressions on their faces.

"Already?" Karkat said. "But we haven't even shown the others our evidence!"

"I think it's because we found the decisive piece of evidence," Terezi said. "So we'll have to tell the others in the trial."

"Yeah," Karkat said. "Let's go."

It took around twenty minutes for everyone to reach the massive elevator that Jake, Dirk, and Jade had discovered earlier on. Most of them stood nearer the back of the elevator, but Rose and Terezi were up front. Behind them stood Roxy, Aranea, and Meenah, along with Dave, Karkat, Kanaya, and John. Everyone felt the same sense of worry as the elevator descended: they had to find out who the culprit was, or they'd all be killed. Terezi in particular felt pressured. She had found enough evidence for the case, but what if it was all a frame job? In that case, she'd have to rely on the true culprit slipping up in the trial. Besides that, she could only hope.

The elevator then shuddered to a stop, and the doors opened, revealing the courtroom. It consisted of several pedestals for everyone to stand on. One had a metal stand on it with a grey-scale image of Calliope on it. It had a red X crossed over it with the words 'DUMB DEAD BITCH' written on it in a bright green marker. Rose felt sick just looking at it. And on the other side of the room was Caliborn sat on a throne. He held a wooden gavel in his hand, and there was a box with a big red button on top in front of his throne. Nobody thought much of it, and soon stood on the pedestals with their name on it.

"Well then," Caliborn said. "Let the trial begin."


	4. Chapter One (III)

For two whole minutes, nobody said anything. An uneasy silence fell across the courtroom as nearly everyone eyed each other up with glaring suspicion. Only a select few avoided falling prey to this: Rose and Terezi's groups, along with Jane, Roxy, Meenah, and Aranea.

Rose looked over at the others, seeing the shifty glares, sensing the terror. At this rate, nobody would begin the trial, and they'd be stood there in silence for who knew how long. Taking a deep breath, steeling her nerves, she spoke up.

"All right then," Rose began, looking over the others. "I suppose we should begin this trial then. Our purpose is simple: to find the culprit responsible for the murder of Calliope."

"Big deal," Vriska said idly. "The cherub girl was killed. Caliborn never even liked her anyway." She rolled her eyes, and glared up at Caliborn.

"True," he said. "But it would be no fun. If I didn't hold a trial. Even though the bitch was asking for it."

"Whatever," Vriska sighed. "Then let's get this over with. I guess the first question we should ask is this: who even bothered to look for evidence?"

Many of the others suddenly avoided Vriska's gaze. They lowered their heads, and looked away.

"Like we were meant to know what to look for," Eridan countered, folding his arms.

"Brilliant attitude, Ampora," Vriska said. "You do realise that if we don't find the culprit, we all _die_."

"Well of course I know," Eridan said. "I just didn't care enough." Vriska let out a groan, and buried her face in her hands.

"If I may ask," Aranea said. "Did you look for evidence yourself, Vriska? I don't recall seeing you at all during the investigation."

"Well, you see," Vriska said. "I was, uh, looking elsewhere!"

"She was pushing Tavros' wheelchair down the stairs with him still in it," Porrim said with a sigh. "She helped about as much as we did."

"It's not my fault!" Vriska yelled. "Like anyone else could have resisted the temptation."

"Well, uh," Tavros said. "Several others did try and, um, stop you from doing it. You just threatened to stab them several, uh, times..."

"Can it Nitram," Vriska said.

"Anyway," Rose said. "This is derailing from the main point of this trial. We need to find the culprit for the murder, not discuss the ethical implications behind Vriska's torment of Tavros."

"Whatever," Vriska said. She did not push the matter further.

"Thank you," Rose replied. "Now, let's begin with the first thing: the time of death. For this, we will consult the Caliborn File." She pulled out her ElectroID, and booted up the Caliborn File.

"It says the time of death was just after half twelve," John said.

"Which is a couple of hours after the start of Night Time," Rose said.

"Like that helps," Cronus spoke up. "I'm pretty sure nearly everyone was sleeping at that time."

"Not quite everyone," Rose said. "Meenah, weren't you and Aranea up past Night Time?"

"We were," Aranea said. "I wanted to do some late-night reading; it's a sort of comfort thing I do when stressed, which this situation qualifies as."

"I can vouch for ma homegill," Meenah said. "Was with her the entire time."

"Wait a minute," Terezi said. "That's not quite true." She looked over at Aranea. "I recall you saying that Meenah left the library shortly before you did. Is this true?"

"Yes," Aranea said. "Although, it was only around fifteen minutes or so before I retired for the evening."

"Uh huh," Terezi said. "And tell me, Aranea, what time did you leave the library at in the end?"

"I can't remember the exact time," Aranea said. "I think it was just before midnight, give or take ten minutes."

"That gives the culprit a half hour window between Aranea leaving the library and Calliope being murdered," Rose said.

"Indeed," Terezi said. "So we can establish the killer put their plan into action at around midnight at the earliest."

"That's one thing confirmed," Karkat added. "Now we need to find out who was up at that time."

"Meenah and Aranea were," Terezi said. "Was anyone else awake at that time?"

"Um, I was," Nepeta said meekly. "But I didn't leave my room, and it was more just me waking from catnaps."

"Okay then," Terezi said. "Let me rephrase: was anyone else out of their dorm room from midnight onwards?" Silence.

"Wait a sec," Dave said. "I realised something: Calliope must have been awake at that time, or how else did she end up in the library?"

"Maybe she was dragged in her sleep?" Jade added. "It's not that impossible."

"We're also missing evidence that shows that Calliope was up at that time," Rose said.

"Actually, that's where you're wrong," Terezi said. "Karkat, the evidence."

"Okay," Karkat said. He handed Terezi a large book.

"This," Terezi said, "is the evidence in question." She held up the large book for all to see. It was still stained lime and fuchsia. Meenah gasped.

"How tha glub is ma royal blood all over that book?!" she exclaimed. "I don't even remember seein a book that huge!"

"Hold up," Rose said. "May I see the cover?"

"Sure," Terezi said. She showed the cover to Rose. Her eyes widened.

"So that's it," she said.

"What?" Terezi said.

"That book is Cherub Studies: Volume II," Rose explained. "When I was investigating the library, I found the first and third volumes, but the second was nowhere to be found."

"And surely a book that size would be enough to knock someone out if hit over the head?" John said.

"That would match the Caliborn File," Terezi said. "It clearly states that Calliope suffered a concussion prior to her murder. This book would be the perfect weapon for it."

"That still leaves some questions," Rose said. "Two, mainly. The first is where you found it, Terezi. The second is why royal blood is all over it in addition to Calliope's."

"I can provide one answer," Terezi said. "This book was found in Calliope's room in her storage chest."

"What?!" Roxy exclaimed. "Why would Callie have had that book?!"

"Surely it seems likely that she took that book from the library herself," Aranea said. "And I think I have a theory as to why Meenah's blood is all over it, as well as explaining the mystery behind her waking up oddly placed in the library: Calliope used the book to knock Meenah unconscious."

"Wait," Terezi said. "Something doesn't add up there, Aranea."

"What do you mean?" Aranea said.

"If that was correct," Terezi said, "then surely you would have encountered Calliope on your way out?"

"Or at the very least you would have heard signs of a struggle," Rose said.

Aranea sighed. "It was just a theory," she said. "I based it off of the evidence presented so far, so don't take it as my final verdict."

"Okay then," Rose said. "So we're back to square one with how Meenah's blood ended up on the book."

"And look at the layering," Terezi said. "Clearly Meenah's blood was spilled before Calliope's."

"Then that means Meenah was targeted as well," Aranea said. "Which means that the culprit may have knocked Meenah out in the hallway, and then moved her to the library, perhaps thinking they had murdered her as well."

"That actually makes a surprising amount of sense," Jane said.

"No it doesn't," Terezi said. "Look again at the book. From the amount of blood spilled, we can confirm that all the action took place within the library."

"What makes you think that?" Jane replied.

"If Meenah was attacked in the hallway, then moving her would have created some form of blood trail."

"Wait a minute," Rose said. "Then that means..."

"Yes," Terezi confirmed. "Meenah never left the library last night."

"What the shell?!" Meenah exclaimed. "But I clearly remember leavin!"

"Delirium induced by the concussion," Kanaya stated. "You believe you left the library because that was the last thing you were thinking of before you were hit."

"Then when was Meenah hit?" Aranea said. "She left at around eleven fifty-five, and I left at around ten past twelve. That leaves fifteen minutes to do this. And even then, surely I would have noticed something."

"Not necessarily," Terezi said. She flashed a confident grin at Aranea. "If it was a swift blow from behind, then Meenah wouldn't have had time to struggle. And depending on how absorbed you were in whatever you were reading, you could have very well been oblivious to the crime."

"Something else," Roxy said. "If everything happened in the library, then how did the blood-covered book end up in Callie's room?"

"The culprit hiding the evidence," Terezi said. "After killing her, they took Calliope's ElectroID and stored the book in her room."

"Why would they do that?" Jane asked.

"It's a set-up," Terezi said. "They were trying to make it seem as if Calliope was the one to attack Meenah."

"What?!" Meenah exclaimed.

"It's true," Terezi said.

"So that clears Calliope's name there," Rose said. "As well, I think we can deduce that the culprit did this on the way to Calliope's room, before they murdered her."

"In that case," Karkat said. He looked across the courtroom. "Meenah, you were the intended culprit of this crime."

"What the actual glub?!" Meenah shouted. "Who da _shell _would try and kill me?!"

"We aren't sure yet," Rose said. "Anyway, the next thing that happened must have been that the culprit infiltrated Calliope's room, intending to plant the evidence there. They must have believed that Meenah was dead."

"Then after that," Aranea said. "Calliope must have realised what the culprit was up to, rushed to find Meenah, and was killed with the very same book."

"That's not quite true," Terezi said. "Aranea, check the Caliborn File again. It clearly states that the cause of death was a single stab wound to the heart, not a blow to the head. Although, I think we've solved the mystery of the concussion at least."

"And potentially Meenah's blood," Karkat added. "But not Calliope's."

"I have an idea about that," Rose said. "But before that, we need to find the murder weapon. It was clearly something sharp, and Kanaya's autopsy report revealed that the actual wound was very thin, so something like a knife is out of the question."

"Don't worry about that," Terezi said confidently. "I have the murder weapon with me right now."

"Oh?" Aranea said. "What is it?"

"Karkat," Terezi said. "If you please."

"Here," Karkat said, handing Terezi the item in question. She held it up.

"As you can see," Terezi said. "The weapon responsible for Calliope's death was none other than her own wand!"

"What?!" Roxy exclaimed. "How is this possible?!"

"I'm beginning to put the pieces together," Rose said. "This shows that Calliope had the weapon on hand when she entered the library. She was already wary of a threat."

"But why would she be?" Latula said. "Like, by then, all of us peeps were hella deep in dreams."

"I've got it!" Terezi said. "The culprit went to Calliope's room to tell her that they had found Meenah's body!"

"What now?" Meenah said. "So lemme get this strait: some motherglubber tried to kill me by knocking me out with some huge book, then went to see the cherub girl about it?"

"Exactly," Terezi said. "Their original goal was to frame Calliope."

"I see," Rose said. "So then whilst Calliope rushed to the library in a panic, the culprit entered Calliope's room and placed the book there with Meenah's blood to make us suspect her."

"But something clearly went wrong," Terezi said.

"Huh?" Roxy asked.

"For this plan to work," Terezi said. "The culprit would have required Calliope to still be alive."

"So what went wrong?" John asked.

"I think I know," Vriska said. "Meenah woke up, didn't she?"

"I did _what_?!" Meenah said. "This is botherin me so much that I can't remember anyfin."

"I know," Aranea said. "But don't let it get to you: the culprit is probably enjoying themselves watching your confusion."

"She's right," Rose said. "Try and keep as calm as possible here."

"All right," Meenah said. "But still: I woke up?"

"Yes," Terezi said. "But only temporarily: the culprit had no choice but to knock you out again. This time, they didn't use a book though: it was likely to be something akin to a direct punch."

"Then that leaves the next problem," Rose said. "Calliope was a witness to all this. Clearly she would have immediately realised who the culprit was, and the culprit couldn't risk this, so they had to take her out as well."

"They used the same method to knock Calliope out," Terezi said. "They delivered such a strong punch that Calliope fell unconscious right there. But they couldn't take any chances, and used the wand to stab Calliope, killing her."

"That's just awful!" Feferi exclaimed. "Who would do such a thing?!"

"We'll get to that," Terezi said. "And now I've figured out how Calliope's blood got on the book."

"How?" John asked.

"Simple," Terezi said. "After killing Calliope, the culprit was coated in blood. They panicked, and took the wand with them as they left the scene of the crime. It's safe to assume that they tried to hide the wand with the book, but realised that it would be too obvious, so they moved it elsewhere, but not before coating the book with the blood."

"In that case," Rose said. "Where did they hide the wand?"

"This is an interesting story," Terezi said. "We ended up finding the wand in one of the dorm rooms, as the door was open."

"Whose room?" Rose pressed.

"Here's the issue," Terezi said. "That entire section of the hallway had the signs on the dorms taken down."

"I see," Rose said. "So the culprit made it so that we wouldn't be able to identify whose room it was; none of us are particularly familiar with the dormitories yet."

"What?!" Jade said. "They were all up there when I woke up this morning!"

"Perfect," Terezi said. "So we have a time window for this to have happened. We were all woken by Caliborn at seven, and we were all present for Calliope's body discovery at around seven forty five. That's a perfect time frame for our culprit to move the signs."

"Something else," John said. "Why was the door open in the first place?"

"Carelessness," Terezi said. "In their rush to remove the signs in the hallway, the culprit forgot to close their room before heading off to the library."

"Or dining hall," Rose said. "Provided it didn't take as long to dismantle the signs. And out of question, how many were taken?"

"The entire southern half of the dorms," Kanaya stated. "Essentially every room after Calliope's."

"They're closest to the dining hall, aren't they?" Nepeta said. "I remember, since my room is really close!"

"Exactly," Terezi said. "From this, we can safely say that after taking down half the signs, they met up at breakfast with everyone else."

"If that's the case," Rose said. "Then at least half of us could be the culprit."

"Indeed," Aranea said. "Terezi, are you sure there's nothing tying someone to the crime?"

"Actually, there is," Terezi said to Aranea.

"Oh?" Aranea said.

"I'll show you all," Terezi said. She reached down into her pocket. For just a moment, she saw the anxious look pass Karkat's face. But then Terezi pulled out, keeping her hand shut. "I think that this development will show us exactly who the culprit is." She lifted her hand up, allowing everyone a clear view. And once everyone was looking, Terezi opened her hand, revealing the Sufferer necklace stained in lime green blood.

Silence fell over the courtroom as everyone stared at the decisive piece of evidence. Meenah's mouth was open in disbelief. Rose was staring blankly, unable to form words. Aranea looked away from Terezi.

"Only one of us wears a necklace like this," Rose finally said. She turned to the only one not looking at Terezi. "Isn't this yours, Aranea?" Aranea remained silent.

"Oh yeah," Jane said. "She wasn't wearing it this morning. I assumed it fell off in the night."

"That was too naïve an assumption," Terezi said. "This is the decisive piece of evidence for this trial."

"Is it?" John said.

"Yes," Terezi said. "And with this, I can piece the crime together. This is how it happened..."

"See, from the moment Caliborn announced the School Life of Mutual Killing, our culprit began scheming this murder. No, wait, that would be unfair. Realistically, they began plotting once we had explored all we could so far. The first move was for them to gain an excuse to stay up past Night Time: the library was perfect for this. And of course, Meenah's loyalty allowed for them to gain an alibi for the night in case another murder occurred. The two of them remained in the library, the culprit reading a suspiciously large book, until just before midnight. Meenah told the culprit that she was going to head to bed having exhausted herself. This was the perfect time for the culprit to strike. They hit Meenah over the head with the book, knocking her unconscious, staining the book with her blood. The culprit wrongly assumed that this blow had been enough to kill Meenah."

"Their next move was to run over to Calliope's room to tell her that Meenah had been killed. At this point, they were still holding the book. We can assume their explanation to Calliope was that they had either dropped it in Meenah's blood in surprise, or that it was found next to Meenah's body. Anyway, upon hearing the news that the mutual killing had begun, Calliope rushed to the library, taking her wand with her for protection. In her haste, she forgot to close her door, allowing the culprit access to the room, where they hid the book inside Calliope's storage chest. At the same time, Calliope found Meenah on the ground just as she began to stir. As this happened, our culprit returned to the library. Seeing this scene, the culprit punched Meenah with enough strength to knock her out. At this point in time, Calliope began to piece it together, realising that the culprit had attempted to take Meenah's life. The culprit, realising that their frame job would be useless given what Calliope had witnessed, knocked Calliope out too. However, unlike Meenah, they took no chances, and stabbed Calliope with her wand. The blood from the wound coated the culprit, staining the wand and their outfit. Realising that remaining blood-stained would be proof enough for their execution, the culprit left the scene of the crime, forgetting to check that they had killed Meenah. They would later attempt to use this as bait for a frame job unsuccessfully."

"After leaving the library, the culprit returned to Calliope's room, where they attempted to hide the wand, soon realising that this would make it all too obvious. Instead, they removed the wand from the chest and left Calliope's room, but not before staining the book with Calliope's blood. The culprit then returned to their own room, where they washed the blood off of themselves, hiding the wand under their pillow. However, they also found that they couldn't remove the blood from their necklace, so they were left with no choice but to hide that as well. The culprit then slept until the morning announcement, presumably exhausted from the previous night. This was when they put into motion the final part of their plan. They waited until everyone had left for breakfast before leaving their room. They took down every door sign in the southern dorm section, hiding them somewhere to try and throw off anyone who would try and investigate. They then left for breakfast, but had foolishly forgotten to close their own door. They then slipped into the dining hall, acting as if they had been there the whole time. Right around this time, Meenah woke up in the library, seeing Calliope's body. Reasonably, she panicked and fled, heading towards the dining hall. At the same time, the culprit met up with Jane and Roxy who were both concerned about Calliope's absence. The culprit also mentioned how Meenah wasn't there yet, assuming she was dead as well, and the party headed towards the library where they encountered Meenah who told them about Calliope's body. They all rushed to the corpse, and proceeded to react accordingly. The culprit put on a convincing act, appearing to everyone as if they had just laid eyes on the body. They even managed to make it so that Meenah still being alive wouldn't ruin their chances of success, very nearly fooling us all. There's only one person who would be able to pull all this off," Terezi said. "Am I right, Aranea?"

Surprisingly, instead of shock, Aranea simply smiled ruefully. "Well, I guess the game is up," she said wistfully. "I confess to my crime."

"I knew it," Terezi said. "But then there's still one more question: why did you do this?"

"You were very close with your theory," Aranea said. "Except for one thing: I never intended to kill Meenah."

"What?" Terezi said.

"Calliope was the target from the beginning," Aranea explained. "Really, the book should have been enough. If it was Meenah I was aiming to kill, do you really think I would have selected a book titled Cherub Studies? It's too much to be a mere coincidence."

"Okay then," Rose said. "But why Calliope then?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Aranea said, her tone growing more exasperated. "I was trying to get us all out."

"You what?!" Meenah cried out, staring in disbelief at her friend. "Twerket, in what way is killin goin to get us all outta here?"

"It was a simple gamble," Aranea said. "Realising that both Calliope and Caliborn are technically the same person, I began to research cherubs in greater detail, discovering that if the other half is killed in a manner outside of predomination, then it can lead to potentially fatal effects for the surviving half."

"You were willing to sacrifice Calliope to kill Caliborn," Rose said. "How ruthlessly brilliant."

"Evidently it failed," Caliborn said from atop his throne. "I am still alive. She is dead. We never shared a body. In this. I suppose. It would be similar. To killing a human 'identical twin'. The other twin lives just fine. Despite their 'other half' dying. You were stupid to assume that would work."

"Well, it was worth a shot," Aranea said. Her tone was surprisingly calm. "And anyway, at least it prevented Calliope from falling into further despair at her brother creating this killing game."

"This game is brilliant," Caliborn said.

"You're derailing from the trial," Aranea said.

"Oh. Yeah," Caliborn said. "Anyway. The discussion is over. Use your ElectroIDs. To cast a vote."

"Aranea..." Meenah said softly. "What the shell have you gotten yourself into this time?" But still, Meenah pressed down on her ElectroID, and cast her vote. She blinked back tears as she did so.

Once everyone had voted, the lights suddenly dimmed. A few seconds later, a spotlight shone down from the roof, onto Aranea's podium. Aranea blinked in the harsh light for a few moments until her eyes adjusted.

"You losers are correct," Caliborn said. "Aranea is the culprit." Almost collectively, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They had done it. They had identified the culprit.

"So what's going to happen to her now?" Jane said.

"Supposedly, I'll receive an execution," Aranea said. "But I doubt it. It is highly improbable that there is enough room to perform an execution."

"Wrong," Caliborn said. "I have prepared an execution. Just for you."

"Really now?" Aranea challenged Caliborn. "I doubt it."

"Just wait and see," Caliborn said. He then lifted his gavel, and shoved it down on the red button. Text appeared on the box below the button.

**GAME OVER**

**ARANEA SERKET HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY**

**COMMENCING EXECUTION: READ IT AND WEEP**

Aranea remained standing on her podium for a couple more seconds, before something cold and metallic clasped around her throat. She looked around at the others, startled, before the chain that she was attached to pulled back harshly. Aranea had just enough time to see the look of utter despair on Meenah's face before she was pulled through a set of doors, leaving the courtroom.

She was placed in what appeared to be a long hallway lined with bookshelves. The bookshelves reached upwards to the high roof, making them into what essentially amounted to walls. She glanced behind her. Grey wall. She looked ahead. At the end of the long hallway, Aranea noticed an open door. It was her way out. But as she walked along the hallway, the walls began to move. They were closing in, she quickly realised.

Aranea began to run along the hallway as the walls of bookshelves continued to close in. Books fell to the ground, being swept along the ground. Panic began to well up in Aranea as she realised she was racing against the clock to escape the execution. The door drew closer. The walls closed in. Closer. The gap became tighter. Closer. Tighter. Closer. Tighter.

The door was just within reach, and Aranea took one final leap towards it as the walls continued to close. But at the last minute, the walls suddenly shoved in at a much faster pace. Aranea vanished in an explosion of blue. The gap had been closed.

Everyone had been forced to watch the execution on a large screen that Caliborn had revealed. Most had been taken aback by the brutality of Aranea's end. Vriska continued to stare at the blank screen incredulously. Rose and Terezi hung their heads in guilt. Meenah stared blankly into space. Like a thick haze, despair hung in the room.

"Come on now," Caliborn said. "Was that not. The most exhilarating thing?"

"How can you say that?!" Feferi screamed, tears in her eyes. "Someone just died!"

"She was a pathetic murderer. Who allowed herself to get caught," Caliborn said. "No big deal."

"No big deal?!" This time, it was Jane that spoke up. "She tried to get us all out! How is that no big deal?!"

"She failed," Caliborn said. "Who cares any more."

"You truly are awful, you know that?" Jane said.

"I pride myself on it," Caliborn replied. "Now. It will be Night Time shortly. I advise you all to board the elevator. And leave the courtroom."

Eventually, the courtroom had been cleared, and everyone had returned upstairs. Most returned to their dorm rooms. Those that did found that their signs had returned, and that Aranea's door was shut. The handle was missing. The room had been sealed off forever. The same applied to Calliope's room. Nobody would be returning to it.

Terezi also discovered that all signs of Calliope's murder, including the body, had been cleared. It was as if the crime had never happened. She sighed. The School Life of Mutual Killing had finally kicked off, and there was no telling how many would fall into despair.

As she returned to her room for the evening, Terezi prayed that there would be no second trial. She later fell asleep with the guilt of Aranea's execution seared into her conscience. How many more would murder? How many more faces would she feel responsible for their executions?

These thoughts plagued Terezi's mind even after sleep claimed her.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE: END**

**SURVIVORS: 31/33**


	5. Chapter Two (I)

"Attention losers. It is now seven AM. Marking the end of Night Time. The dining hall is now unlocked. Meaning breakfast will be served. Here's to a new day. Of mutual killing."

Rose blinked slowly as Caliborn's announcement rang out. Her body was entangled in the bedsheets, and she silently wished to return to sleep. She had only been up a few moments, but already images of yesterday assaulted her violently. Calliope's corpse... Aranea's execution... the School Life of Mutual Killing had begun.

Guilt flooded Rose as her mind returned to Aranea's execution. She had helped in deducing who the culprit was, and as such was partly responsible for her death. Despite all of Rose's efforts, two people had died.

But she soon realised that moping around would get her nowhere; Caliborn certainly didn't seem to be allowing anyone to gain a true sense of closure over yesterday's events. With this in mind, Rose climbed out of bed, and soon prepared herself for the day ahead.

She walked out of her room, and into the hallway. Across from Rose, another door opened, revealing Dave walking out of his own room.

"Sup Rose," he said, walking up to her.

"Good morning, Dave," Rose replied. She smiled at Dave as they walked down the hallway.

"Not much good about it," Dave said. "I'm still feeling all kinds of down after that trial. Man that was awful."

"I know," Rose said. "But I don't think it would be wise to mourn just yet. Wait until we're all out of here before doing that."

"How come?" Dave asked.

"I have the suspicion that Caliborn is deliberately denying us the chance to properly say farewell," Rose said. "It's just an inkling though."

"Yeah," Dave said. "Anyway, are you sure we'll all get out of here?"

"My confidence has taken a blow," Rose said, "but we can't lose hope."

"I'm cool with that," Dave said. "I just want to get out before anyone else starts killing."

"Me too, Dave," Rose said. "Me too."

The conversation then died down, and Dave and Rose reached the dining hall. Everyone was sitting around, eating breakfast. As expected, the atmosphere was heavy. Rose soon found their group, and she and Dave quickly joined them.

"Good morning," John said, smiling.

"Same," Rose said.

"Did you sleep well Rose?" Kanaya asked, drinking a glass of water.

"Surprisingly so," Rose said.

"Perfect," Terezi said.

"How so?" Rose replied, beginning to eat from the wide selection of food on the table.

"Jade discovered this morning that the next floor up has been unlocked," Terezi explained.

"Really?" Rose said. "Oh yeah. Didn't Caliborn mention something about that a couple of days back?"

"He did," Terezi said grimly. "After every trial, we get a new floor to explore."

"Has anyone explored yet?" Rose asked.

"No," Terezi said. "We all agreed to wait until after breakfast to explore."

"Sounds good," Rose said. "And as awful as this sounds, it also prevents anyone from heading up there to commit a murder at the moment."

"Yeah," Terezi said. "After yesterday, I never want to see a corpse again."

"We're all in agreement there," Dave sighed. "Never again."

The conversation died down after that as everyone ate breakfast. And then, Rose stood up, addressing the others.

"Attention everyone," she said. "After the trial, it appears that we have a new floor to explore. Of course, as it was last time, everyone should remain in groups of at least three, and report back here at the end of the day."

"Fine," Vriska spoke up. "But can I just not go in a group?"

"Why not?" Rose asked.

"Because everyone here sucks and I'm not going to be trusting anyone," Vriska explained. "I'm not risking my ass just to see a new floor."

"If that's what you want, then who are we to stop you?" Kanaya said.

"What?!" Rose exclaimed, turning to Kanaya. "She's going into a group: rules are rules."

"It's not worth the hassle," Kanaya said. "Leave her to it."

"I won't leave her to it, Kanaya," Rose argued.

"Fine then," Kanaya said. "I'll go with Vriska. Anyone else wants to volunteer?"

"I suppose I'll go," John said. "You know, just to make sure they stick together."

"Okay then," Rose said with a sigh. "The rest of you will stick to the same groups as yesterday then, okay?"

"What about us?" Jane said. "We lost Calliope, so we're down to two."

"In that case, Meenah can go with you," Rose said. "Cronus, you just tag on to some other group."

"Can do," Cronus said.

"Thank cod I'm free of him," Meenah said. She walked over to Jane and Roxy.

"So are we all set then?" Rose said. Several nods of confirmation. "All right then, let's get moving."

"Not so fast." Caliborn suddenly emerged from nowhere, standing in the middle of the dining hall.

"What do you want now?" Terezi accused. "Haven't you done enough?"

"Not since the last trial," Caliborn said. "But I am here. For one reason. To give you a motive."

"What?" Rose asked.

"You heard me," Caliborn said. "Since I can't be sure. You will keep up killing. I have devised motives. To get you to commit murder. It's simple enough."

"You really think people will fall for whatever dumb motive you have?" Terezi scoffed.

"You haven't heard it yet," Caliborn said. "Anyway. The new motive is this: if there is not a murder. Committed within twenty four hours. All of you in here. Will be handcuffed to the one you hate the most. By which I mean platonic hate."

"You'll _what?!_" Vriska exclaimed. "What the hell will that accomplish?!"

"Besides," Dirk reasoned. "If you do that, then how will anyone get away with murder? There'll be at least two witnesses to whatever crime takes place."

"Shut up," Caliborn said. "In that case. Commit a murder before that happens. That is all." Caliborn then vanished, leaving the dining hall in a confused uproar.

"No way that's happening," Cronus said.

"It has to be a joke, right?" Jade said.

"Watashi wa kojin-teki ni wa sekkyokutekini kanki mitsukeru," Damara said, sneering.

"What did you say?" Nepeta asked.

"Trust me..." Rufioh said. "You don't wanna know..."

"All I got was somefin about arousal and... oh cod clam it Damara that's nasty!" Meenah exclaimed. Damara performed an obscene gesture.

"Enough of that," Rose said. "We still have a new floor to check out. So let's head out."

Dave and Rose were first to reach the next floor. The first thing that Rose noticed was that the walls were all coloured a bright blue that was somewhat distracting.

"Clearly whoever's in charge has an awful sense of style," she mused aloud, causing Dave to smirk.

"Hell yeah," he said. "This place is eye-watering."

"Have you checked your ElectroID yet?" Rose said. "It should say what's available."

"All right," Dave said. "Let's see here..." He booted up the ElectroID. "We've got the following on this floor: music studio, movie theatre, lounges five, six, and seven, computer room A, and the swimming pool."

"How exactly does this all fit on one floor?" Rose asked. "It's highly improbable."

"Look," Dave said. "We just saw a troll get executed game-show style for killing a cosplaying cherub because her older brother told us to kill. I think normal's back in whatever universe we left behind."

"I guess so," Rose said. "But could you not bring up the trial? It's still somewhat upsetting."

"Sorry," Dave said. "I'll be more careful."

"And you should be: respecting triggering phrases and anecdotes is the first way to establish trust." Rose looked ahead to see Kankri, Porrim, and Cronus walking down the hallway.

"Oh, hello there," she said.

"Hello," Porrim replied. "What have you found so far?"

"Nothing much," Rose explained. "But we've checked the map – there's quite a lot to see."

"I know," Porrim said. She rolled her eyes. "I had to pull Kankri away from the changing rooms for the pool before he descended into a full-blown rant about the needlessness of gendered changing rooms."

"I was making a valid point," Kankri said. "As you are aware, trolls lack biological sex in the same way that humans do, and by imposing such changing rooms you are merely creating yet another barrier for us to overcome, hindering the harmonious progress of combating the violence created by the cherub, which I must also say carries approximately nineteen commonplace triggers seen at any given time; the murder investigation is just one aspect of this, and in order to—"

"Kankri, be quiet," Porrim snapped. "I've had it up to here with your remarks."

"You tell him troll mama," Dave said. A faint smile crossed Porrim's lips.

"I do try my best," she said. "Now, I'm sorry for taking up your time like this: come on, let's go see what else there is." The group of three trolls then walked by, leaving the two siblings alone.

"What's up ahead?" Rose asked Dave.

"Apparently the music studio," Dave said. "If you don't count the three identical lounges."

"I guess," Rose said. She began to walk ahead. "In that case, let's go."

John and Vriska walked down the hallway, the lights above them flickering. Kanaya was just behind them.

"Man, this blows," Vriska said.

"Which part?" John said.

"All of it," Vriska replied. "The killing, the trapping, and now apparently we're going to be chained to someone we hate. I bet eighty boonbucks Tavros is who I'll be paired with."

"I don't think I actually dislike anyone that much," John said. "I guess I'll probably end up attached to Caliborn."

"Wouldn't that be the funniest thing," Vriska said.

"Not really," John said. "Being stuck to him all day? I'd be willing to kill myself within two minutes."

"Same," Vriska said. She turned around. "Hey, what do you think Kanaya?"

"I think he's a deplorable abomination that needs to be euthanised," Kanaya said sharply.

"If that was possible I'd be first to kill him," Vriska said. "But he'd be likely to behead us on the spot, and God Tier apparently means jack here."

"Hey, you two," Kanaya said. "I hate to do this, but my body desires to use the load gaper."

"Really?" Vriska said.

"I apologise profusely," Kanaya said. "But it is unwise to hold this in."

"Whatever," Vriska said. She looked at her ElectroID. "Just meet us outside the music studio when you're done, okay?"

"Okay," Kanaya said. She then walked away from the two, down the hallway.

"Will she be okay?" John said.

"Honestly, the others couldn't give a damn," Vriska said. "Let's just hurry up to this studio."

The two walked over there in silence, finding Rose and Dave standing there as well.

"Hey guys," John said.

"Sup John," Dave replied, leaning against the studio. "Door's locked."

"Really?" Vriska said.

"Caliborn said it'll open after a trial," Rose said. "Since apparently, we now only get half a floor's worth of freedom per body."

"Man," Vriska said. "Then what was the point of opening this floor up?"

"No idea," Dave said. "Hey, wasn't Kanaya with you guys?"

"She's in the bathroom," Vriska said. "She'll be with us soon enough."

Soon enough turned into twenty five minutes. Then thirty. Still no sign of her.

"Does it normally take trolls this long to do their business?" Dave said.

"No," Vriska replied. "She should be here by now, unless she got lost."

"We have to go look," Rose said. "It's not safe to be alone. Why didn't you wait outside the bathrooms with her?"

"Would you have waited whilst Dave emptied whatever organ it is?" Vriska countered. "That's just weird and gross."

"We have a buddy system for a reason," Rose said. "I'm disappointed in the both of you."

"I'm sorry," John said. "But I don't know how trolls work."

"Ignoring the fact that we've spent a hell of a lot of time with them," Rose said. "We have to head out."

"Agreed," Dave said. "Let's roll."

The four of them swiftly moved out, walking through the hallways, following the map to the bathroom. They made it to where the swimming pool was before encountering Terezi and Karkat.

"Hey guys," Terezi said. "What's the rush?"

"We can't find Kanaya," Rose said.

"Huh?" Terezi said. "Surely not..."

"Don't even imply it," Rose said. Her chest felt heavy.

"We'll help you look," Karkat said. "Where did you last see her?"

"She said she was going to the bathroom," John said.

"We passed that a little while ago," Terezi said. "There weren't any signs of anyone."

"Really?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," Karkat said. "But let's look again; she might show up."

"Okay then," Rose said. "Let's go."

With two more party members, they all rushed down the hallway, turning the corner. At the end of the hallway was the entrance to the bathrooms. Terezi stopped immediately.

"What is it?" Karkat asked.

"Do you smell that?" Terezi said.

"Smell what?" Rose said.

"Smoke," Terezi replied.

"What?" Vriska added. "What loser would be stupid enough to light a fire in an enclosed environment?!"

"I don't know," Terezi said. "But this is troubling. If there's a fire somewhere, then a lot of us could get hurt."

"Oh no," John said. "You can't be serious!"

"I am, unfortunately," Terezi said. "But let's check the bathroom first." They all moved down the hallway, heading towards the bathroom. As they did so, an uneasy feeling filled the air. Rose felt her stomach doing flips. But she told herself that everything would be fine. There was nothing to worry about.

She looked ahead, and saw the shut bathroom door.

"I'll go in," Terezi said. She walked up to the door, and pushed it open. "Hey Kanaya, are you o...kay...ahh...ahhh..."

Terezi stumbled backwards as the bathroom door opened. And as the door opened, a figure slumped to the ground. Kanaya's body.

It was unclear who screamed the loudest.


End file.
